A series of thrillers lit up the Sir Doug Nicholls Round, where classic finishes and controversy made for the best weekend of the 2023 season so far.
Welcome to the AFL Round-Up, where we digest the week that was.
Power emerge fully formed
The squeakers began as early as Friday night, when Port Adelaide and Melbourne — Yartapuulti and Naarm for this round — took it to the wire in what is now known as the Zak Butters Game.
The Power are the living embodiment of the fine lines that dictate a football club's fortunes. Last season, they fell on the wrong side on almost all of the close ones, leading to a fizzer of a season and a summer of heat on Ken Hinkley.
In 2023, either Port spent the entire preseason ingesting copious amounts of dawg or the law of averages has settled in their favour. Either way, they are suddenly right in the thick of this flag hunt.
It's not just luck that has improved Yartapuulti this season. Butters himself is indicative of the rapid improvement of a midfield group that has grown together and is now approaching its prime.
A combination of Butters, Connor Rozee, Dan Houston, Ollie Wines and the prodigious Jason Horne-Francis is a well-rounded force to be reckoned with on their day. If you had any doubts, winning a toe-to-toe slugfest with the Demons' stellar on-ballers should put them to bed.
In the first half, the Demons looked to have fallen into the same trap as their last major road challenge, when they no-showed against the Lions in Brisbane. But this wasn't a loss to raise alarms for Naarm, despite how tightly congested the top of the ladder will remain this season.
But for Port, it felt significant. For a club that thrives on vibes, the buzz around Alberton could carry this team a long way.
Bombers cleansing continues apace under Scott
Damien Hardwick said it was a "horrible game" for Richmond but for the neutral, Dreamtime at the G was a total thrill. A mess of a game that was won and lost with a perfect combination of dare and disaster.
Hardwick bemoaned the Tigers' high turnover numbers, but the Bombers had even more. It wasn't the purest game of footy of the year, but it became one of the most willing.
And it had arguably the greatest conclusion, too, when unlikely hero Sam Durham timed his move to the front of the contest perfectly and slammed Essendon's win into the record books.
Scott's brief stint in charge of the Bombers is already proving to be cleansing for the club — ending a 13-game losing streak against the Tigers just the latest monkey removed from its collective back.
This likely wasn't meant to be a season for a finals charge for Essendon, but, even as the injury list continues to grow, they remain right on pace to threaten September action. This win, maybe even more than the one over the Demons, will have Bombers fans truly believing.
A very silly North loss
It was all so predictable. Of course, the rag-tag group of North Melbourne misfits would rally under an interim coach. Of course, they would "Do It For Al". Of course, Sydney's weight of injuries would prove too much to handle.
It wasn't a particularly revolutionary script in AFL terms. We'd seen this one before.
But wait! A twist ending! An interchange infringement! The scrappy underdogs end up losing after all, all because they swapped players one time more than the arbitrary number they are allowed!
It was high farce at Docklands on Saturday afternoon, and you'd have to have a heart of stone not to feel for North Melbourne and their fans in that moment.
The free kick was correct, justified and entirely of North's own doing. But it was all so silly as to seem cruel for a club that has endured a hellish week among many hellish years.
It had been a surprisingly gripping game to that point, and the headline acts had been two teenage Kangaroos, who ensured that despite the result, the day was a net positive for North.
Harry Sheezel was released from his comfy backline position and into a mid-forward role. To absolutely nobody's surprise, he absolutely thrived and very nearly steered his team home.
Then there was debutant George Wardlaw, who just kept flashing across the screen as a frantic little ball of muscle. He already looks a proper footballer's footballer, and is the perfect yin to Sheezel's yang.
Those final moments were galling for North, who really needed a spirit-boosting win at a pretty low ebb for the club. In truth, they got it — just not in the way they had hoped.
Join the discussion and have your say about all the big round 10 talking points from 10:30am AEST.
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Around the grounds
Last week, we said by rights Hawthorn should dominate West Coast in Tassie. But a 116-point win is beyond the realms of what was conceivable and what should be possible. The worst loss in the history of the West Coast Eagles.
Freo are all the way back. Granted, this was a heavily depleted version of Geelong, but even more telling than the result has been the way Walyalup have played for the best part of a month now. Finals are back on the cards.
Carlton saw Sunday as an opportunity to make a statement against the league's best, but their poor first quarter spoke volumes. The Blues improved, but are all at sea in the middle of a pack that is rapidly improving around them.
For the first time this season, the Crows looked tired. They just couldn't get their hands on the ball against a Bulldogs side who have recaptured their identity and can once again dominate possession like few others.
The Lions still aren't getting much outside attention, but they wouldn't want it any other way right now. Brisbane put the foot down in the last quarter against the Suns, in a way only the very best teams can.
That was a fine win for St Kilda against a Giants side that brought their best. Even better than the four points was the successful return of Max King, who remains incredibly big and incredibly good at footy.
In the clubhouse
Here we take stock of who is leading the race for the season's individual awards.
We covered Sheezel's fantastic showing earlier, but he has certainly now firmed as the Rising Star favourite ahead of Will Ashcroft.
Mitch Owens had been right in that mix, but the worst moment of the week came on Sunday arvo when he was knocked out in a horrific accident. So many fingers are crossed that this young footballer is okay, and suffers no long-lasting effects from the incident.
Mark and goal of the week are both pretty easy picks in round 10.
Ash Johnson can take mark of the week honours for an absolute cracker against Carlton. I make it the third-best grab of the year so far, behind Harry Himmelberg and Harry Himmelberg.
And Paul Curtis kicked what we are now declaring to be the goal of the year leader, with apologies to Will Ashcroft.
The fact it started with Curtis on the ground, included two fend-offs and a couple of slick moves through traffic, and then the drop punt finish from the boundary, takes it above Ashcroft's singular moment of freakish brilliance in our books.
